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Our father died New Years Eve 1967 aged 49. Until the very end of his illness he remained fit and strong , always living for the future. He never spoke about his wartime experiences. There follows a brief resumee of his army career and a letter written by him shortly after the war.

Anthony Dee joined the Territorial Army Middlesex Yeomanry in the March 1939. At outbreak of war posted to No1 Squadron, 2nd Armoured Division Royal Signals operating as a Dispatch rider. After training, received orders for North Africa. On the outward journey they called at South Africa, which created a very favourable impression. In December 1940 the British under Wavell and O’Connor made good progress against the Italians, pushing them back 500 miles and taking 130,000 prisoners. To help the situation in Greece, which was under attack by the Italians, troops were diverted there. Rommel and the Afrika Corps landed in North Afrca on 12th February, and successfully attacked the British. After a retreat of 8 days, 6 Generals including O’Connor and Neame were captured by a German night patrol, on 6thApril 1941. 1,200 troops were captured at Mechili on 8th, including Anthony Dee. They had been under fire but he was not injured; soon afterwards there was a sandstorm, which would have aided their escape if it had occured earlier. Following capture at Mechili they were moved to Derna after a few days, dysentery was rife. The next move was to Barce, followed by Benghazi from where they were shipped to Naples on 8th May 1941. They arrived on 14 May, via Sabratha and Tripoli, and were sent to a decontamination camp at Capua. On 23rd June they were moved to Sulmona (Aquila), which was to be home until Autumn 1943. He was very impressed with the Italian countryside. He always kept busy, and it was here that he became a very keen gardener.

There follows a letter giving details of events in Sulmona following the Italian capitulation. It waswritten in March 1950 to Guido di Vecchia in the UnitedStates, and is the only direct information known about our father’s war. Guido came from Santa Eufemia, close to Sulmona and had two older brothers, as well as Alba, Antonetta, and Gioconda mentioned in the text. His Mother may have been Mariocha, a Giacomo of Pescara is also mentioned.

“When we left Santa Eufemia that night we climbed the Maiella again, skirting the foresters hut as there were Germans living there and just before we reached the altipiano snow started to fall very heavily so it was difficult to see any distance and so on the altipiano we nearly walked into a tent in which a German machine gun unit were living, luckily we heard their voices, and crawled past, on our knees and found the descent to the gully, which led to the next valley, and then we ran as best we could in the deep snow when we reached the stream at the bottom we found the bridge and almost decided to stop and sleep, but it was so very cold and we daren’t light a fire because the German patrol would have spotted us so we carried on up the Maiella once again. We lost the path several times, and as well as this George who had an operation for a rupture began to be troubled by it again an found it very painful to keep to climbing also it was snowing very hard and we were very wet. Eventually we reached the top and found the path again,the going was much easier. Then we decided that we could go no further, and the three of us curled up and tried to sleep for an hour. It was impossible to sleep because it was so cold. We carried on walking, which was easiersince it was not such rough going now, though the wind was blowing the snow in a blizzard. In one place where the path was along a precipice, we had to crawl for a distance to avoid being blown over. Just after this the snow stopped and we came to the top. From here the walking was even better and we just had to keep a close watch for German patrols as there was very little cover for us to hide in. We found a fontana after we had crossed on to the Guardiagrola side. It was just getting light then and so we had to move carefully than ever. So we climbed down the Maiella to just above the tree line, so that escape would be easy. Just as well because soon after we saw a lot of Germans who were apparently the crew of a large naval gun which they had hauled up the side of the Maiella, and unfortunately some of them spotted us and so we had to make a dash down the side of the mountain, which was very steep at that place. anyway we got away into the trees, but by now we were very tired and hungry, and so we went further down until we came to a place where there were some Contadini working, who gave us a meal and showed where to sleep.( I think this was near Rifaria).
We slept until afternoon, then had a meal and off once again, but George was very much in pain,and he could walk only with difficulty, and so we stopped and had a conference. George refused to carry on, and since he could not possibly get through as he was, and he needed hospital treatment badly, so we had to go our different ways; Jeff and I along the side of the Maiella, and George down to the main road to be picked up by a German lorry and taken hospital in Guardiagrola. Jeff and I carried on all night, we walked into a German encampment and then out again, and then we walked right through another one. By this time it was nearly dawn, and we were approaching Fara San Martina,a village standing on a spur of the Maiella, overlooking the Sangro. There were only two paths, one went through the village and down to the plains, and the other skirted the edge of village, and led into a small valley which cut into the Maiella again, but we knew there was a cave there where we could sleep for the day,so we passed by the village and went to look for the cave. Unfortunately as we got close to the village two men saw us, but as they we Italian we did not worry, and carried on, but after a time we heard shouting, and realized that the two were fascists, and had sent the Germans after us, and so we found that we were trapped in the valley, and couldn’t get away, and so we were recaptured again, and what a terrible feeling that was.
we were lucky in a way, as at that time a lot of Germans were shooting, and not taking prisoners on the Maiella. From here the Germans took us back to Guardiagrola, and then Chieti, where we met George again. Then back to Aquila. On day the Germans marched 400 of us prisoners down to the railway station, where there were two trains side by side, one of empty wagons and one containing ammunition and petrol. the 400 prisoners were locked in the empty wagons, as George, I and about 40 others were put in our wagon there was the sound of aeroplanes, and over came the RAF to blow up the ammunition train. The thickness of the wagon saved us. the first lot of bombs came down and then we rushed out of our wagon which had been splattered with petrol and was burning, and we just ran as fast as we could. Unfortunately as soon as the Germans could they put a cordon of troops around the area, and we were recaptured later on that day to find to find that over 200 of us had been killed. So back to the camp at Aquila for a while, and then later they sent us to a concentration camp in Moosburg in Bavaria. After a month there we were sent to work in Munich until July 1944, when George and I escaped again, but we were recaptured later in the south near the mountains. And then back to Munich where we were well and truly bombed by the RAF and the USAF , until we were released by the Yanks in May 1945. Then we were flown home to England, and what a wonderful time we had.�

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